The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate ad 661-750

party or programme, and if he had been victorious it is not clear
what changes would have resulted apart from the end of Umayyad
rule and its replacement by that of another member of Quraysh.
13
 To
some extent this judgement may need to be qualified by reference to
the development of the Muslim sanctuary. It might be possible to
argue that the struggle with Ibn al-Zubayr was decisive in
establishing that the Muslim sanctuary would be at Mecca, away
from the seat of the caliph, but this is a complicated issue which
involves questioning the Muslim tradition’s insistence that the
sanctuary had been fixed at Mecca since the time of the Prophet. The
most obvious result of this second civil war is, of course, the change
from Sufyanid to Marwanid rule, but the more significant
consequences are elsewhere. First, the polarisation of the Arab
factions provides the basis for divisions among the Arabs which, as
we will see, were of the greatest importance for the Umayyad state.
Secondly, the impetus given to the development of Shi‘ism and the
link between this and the later anti-Umayyad movement of the
Hashimiyya have been indicated. Next, the emergence of the 
mawali
as a significant force for the first time is also a pointer for future
developments. Another development, of a somewhat more
temporary importance, but for a time a major problem for the
Umayyads, was the appearance of Kharijite groups in Iraq and

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56
The Second Civil War
Mesopotamia, taking advantage of the breakdown of order there
during the troubles associated with Mukhtar and the Zubayrid rule.
After the reassertion of Umayyad authority in the area, ‘Abd al-
Malik’s governor, al-Hajjaj, had to devote considerable time and
effort to the threat they posed. Finally, the second civil war had
revealed the shaky foundations of the Sufyanid system of
government, especially in Iraq where the 
ashraf
 had given their
support to the Zubayrids. The questionable loyalty of the Iraqis in
general and particularly the 
ashraf
 was to be revealed in episodes
after the end of the civil war, and was probably decisive in the
development of a more direct type of rule by ‘Abd al-Malik and his
descendants.
Notes
1. The most recent detailed discussion with full bibliography is Gernot
Rotter, 
Die Umayyaden und der zweite Bürgerkrieg (680–692)
. See also
R.Sellheim, 
Der zweite Bürgerkrieg im Islam
. In English, A.A.Dixon, 
The
Umayyad caliphate 65– 86/684–705,
 treats in detail some of the later
episodes.
2. J.Wellhausen, 
Arab kingdom,
 140–5; H.Lammens, 
Le califat de Yazid
1er,
 98–106; Gernot Rotter, 
Bürgerkrieg,
 35–6.
3. J.Wellhausen, 
Arab kingdom,
 167–9; F.Buhl, ‘Die Krisis der
Umajjadenherrschaft im Jahre 684’, 
ZA,
 27 (1912); H.Lammens, ‘Mo‘awia
II ou le dernier des Sofianides’, in 
Le siècle des Omayyades,
 163–210.
4. J.Wellhausen, 
Arab kingdom,
 147–65; article ‘al-Harra’ in 
EI2;
M.J.Kister, ‘The battle of the Harra’, in 
Studies in memory of Gaston Wiet,
ed. M.Rosen Ayalon, Jerusalem, 1977; H.Lammens, 
Yazid 1er,
 210–57;
G.Rotter, 
Bürgerkrieg,
 40–53.
5. J.Wellhausen, 
Arab kingdom,
 165–7; H.Lammens, 
Yazid 1er,
 257–69;
G. Rotter, 
Bürgerkrieg,
 53–59.
6. J.Wellhausen, 
Arab kingdom,
 170–200; A.A.Dixon,